English Language and Literature Commons^™

Table Of Contents

The Robert Frost Review

No abstract provided.

Song Of Exile: A Cultural History Of Brazil’S Most Popular Poem, 1846–2018, Joshua Alma Enslen

Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures

Song of Exile: A Cultural History of Brazil’s Most Popular Poem, 1846–2018 is the first comprehensive study of the influence of Antônio Gonçalves Dias’s “Canção do exílio.” Written in Coimbra, Portugal, in 1843 by a homesick student longing for Brazil, “Song of Exile” has inspired thousands of parodies and pastiches, and new variations continue to appear to this day. Every generation of Brazilian writers has adapted the poem’s Romantic verses to glorify the wonders of the nation or to criticize it via parody, exposing a litany of issues that have plagued the country’s progress over the years. Based on a …

Making Space For Central American Diasporic Decolonial Imaginaries: An Autoethnography Of A 1st Generation Central-American-American, Melisa N. Garcia

English Language and Literature ETDs

This autoethnography argues that alternative discourses are necessary to give voice to non-dominant narratives and to engage with underrepresented identities and experiences. I use the frameworks of constellating identities and decolonial imaginaries to explore the narratives of my Central American immigrant parents and my own first generation Central American-American experiences. Specifically, I examine a graphic narrative and multimodal installation that I created in order to discover enacted constellating identities that are not fixed but disbursed and change over time. I also describe the decolonial imaginaries, the “third spaces” that are created from the lived experiences of underrepresented individuals, made visible …

Whose Body Is Deserving: Discourse, Power, And Ideologies Concerning Non-Normative Bodies On Instagram, Misty Thomas

English Language and Literature ETDs

This dissertation uses FCDA to investigate the construction and control of the boundaries of normativity as they relate to the body. Data in the form of comments was collected from three different Instagram accounts run by individuals with non-normative bodies. From the data, I argue that not only are non-normative bodies controlled through the coded language of health, but through racialized dehumanization. Even alleged demonstrations of support are problematized through what is being supported. The Instagram comments left on the accounts of non-normative bodies demonstrates that these bodies are suppressed as a way to maintain normative ideologies.

“Legato Con Amore In Un Volume”: Can Tolkien’S Ainulindalë Accommodate Divine Knowledge?, John Wm. Houghton

Journal of Tolkien Research

Tolkien's depiction of Eru Iluvatar in the Silmarillion as coming to know the Song of the Ainur only as he hears it conflicts with ideas about the nature of divine knowledge developed by such thinkers as Ibn Sina, Maimoindes, and Thomas Aquinas--as well as with more general ideas about omniscience and eternity. Texts recently published in The Nature of Middle-earth indicate that Tolkien was aware of some of these divergences. The fact that he classifies the Ainulindalë as a "legend" in which divine thought is merely "represented" as music offers some possibilities for reconciliation with the theological tradition, but Tolkien …

Good Grief: Emotional Symbolism In Kate Dicamillo's The Tiger Rising, Sadie Barham

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Textual or Investigative

“A Fascination, Strange And Compelling”: Marriage As The Prevention Of Queerness In Nella Larsen’S Passing, Lillianna Wright

Liberty University Research Week

Graduate

Textual or Investigative

Teaching Legacies Of The Carlisle Indian School, Cari M. Carpenter

Feminist Pedagogy

The horrifying news of the discovery of hundreds of graves of children at Native American boarding schools in Canada has a contemporary companion: the tears of Latinx kids on the border in the summer of 2018 (Kelly 2018). You may recognize these voices as those of the immigrant children who were separated from their parents upon crossing the US/Mexico border in the summer of 2018. I’d like you to juxtapose them with any of the thousands of Native American children separated from their parents and forced to attend US-run boarding schools in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A different time …

"Building Dialogue In Feminist Classrooms, Part 2: Student-Generated Discussion Points", Barbara Barrow, Sera Mathew

Feminist Pedagogy

In Part 2 of these linked Original Teaching Activities, we turn to dialogue and the use of student-generated discussion points to further build community in the feminist classroom. Once students have mastered a common vocabulary, we argue, this informal discussion points homework exercise offers rich opportunities for students to practice terms and concepts, engage in productive dialogue and active listening with their instructor and peers, interpret and analyze the course materials, and build problem-solving skills by navigating moments of conflict.

The Trouble With Literature (Text And Video), Joanne Diaz

Honorees for Teaching Excellence

No abstract provided.

Tuneless Song: A Poetic Form Proposal, Rae Bynum

Undergraduate Research Conference

The Problem

I recently asked some of my fellow poets what the purpose of poetry is to them. The consensus? Sharing experience and meaning with the reader. But what is the point of sharing these ideas if there is no one with whom to share? Poetry readers are dwindling in numbers for two main reasons: the first being that most people believe poetry to be elitist because they have only read poetry from the periods where this was true; the second reason is that “poetry” is widely available to the common person in the form of music. The form I …

Glam Girl, Christina Vasquez

Forces

No abstract provided.

Solitaire, Lydia A. Pyla

Forces

No abstract provided.

Deception, Lydia A. Pyla

Forces

No abstract provided.

Unmasking The Monster: Cathy Ames In John Steinbeck's East Of Eden, Julia N. Parker

Honors College Theses

Critics have considered Cathy Ames, the heinous villain of East of Eden, to be John Steinbeck's most complicated character. Although she is at times truly despicable, readers are prejudiced against her before she is even introduced by the narrator, who couches her entire existence as something monstrous and withholds information that might garner her any sympathy until her literal hour of death. Through a study of both Steinbeck's narrative techniques and his letters to his editor about her, we can see that she may not be as villainous as she is presented to be, but she is most certainly …

A Thinking Man, Gilbert Hu

Forces

No abstract provided.

Penny For Your Thoughts, Gilbert Hu

Forces

No abstract provided.

See Vo Blow Troubles Away, Gilbert Hu

Forces

No abstract provided.

A New Expression: Owen Barfield And The Progression Of Language And Consciousness, Savannah Splechter

Liberty University Research Week

Graduate

Textual or Investigative

Helga Crane’S Attempt At Obtaining Societal Power, Natalie Abernathy

Liberty University Research Week

Graduate

Textual or Investigative

More Than The Defiant Few: Lost Womanhood And Necro Women Dismantling Nineteenth-Century Gender Ideologies, Vicki Vanbrocklin

English Language and Literature ETDs

Too many scholars still rely on adjectives such as deviant, unruly, dangerous, and wild to describe women who interrogate rigid forms of womanhood, especially women of color. My project intervenes in nineteenth-century womanhood discussions, which have traditionally solidified three main categories: Republican, True, and New Womanhood. Between True Womanhood in the mid-nineteenth century and the late nineteenth-century concept of New Womanhood lies an overlooked category aptly understood as Lost Womanhood. I focus on newspaper archives, archival research, and imaginative literature to find “lost” women who critiqued a patriarchal system that thrives on women living in a status akin to being …

A Feminist Scholar Explains Why Will Smith's Words Speak As Loudly As His Actions, Marleen S. Barr

Publications and Research

Marleen S. Barr's contribution to the American Association of University Professors Academe magazine blog links the Will Smith slap to literary criticism to explain why the words Ssmith shouted are as important as his actions. .

Becoming A Poet: The Moment Of Metamorphosis, Lauren Mckinnon

Student Research Symposium

The moment a writer qualifies for the title of poet is undetermined. To gauge if such a moment exists, I launched a mixed method study comparing the perspectives of different published poets. During my study, I interviewed three Cache Valley poets who have their own published books of poetry. In addition, sixteen Utah State University creative writing contest winners were surveyed. My study aims to i) determine the extent to which we can say that there is a decisive moment of change when an individual becomes a poet; and ii) identify the key factors which constitute this shift in identity—sudden …

Not Your Grandma's Kitchen: Recipe Cards In The Digital Age, Emily Powell

Student Research Symposium

With the rise in popularity of food bloggers and social media chefs, how do recipe cards function in a digital age? Although scholarly literature addresses the history of cooking, little research focuses on the recipe card, its history, and its use. Originally, recipe cards were not intended to be kept or treasured as family heirlooms. They served purely functional purposes, acting as prompts to housewives when cooking meals and later to promote new technology and foods in the culinary industry. Even with the rise of the internet, many hold onto old recipe cards. This study looks at the history and …

Beaver Mountain Oral History Project, Hannah Tullis, Gillian Coldesina, Sadie Nellis

Student Research Symposium

This research is being conducted by the students of ENGL/HIST 6720, a skills-based course in ethnographic fieldwork and oral histories. The class project is focused on gathering oral histories about Beaver Mountain’s history and community by conducting interviews, transcribing these interviews, and taking photographs. The resulting interviews, transcripts, and images will be deposited in the USU archives as a digital exhibit. These oral histories will be accessible not only to future researchers.

Pest Houses, Quarantine, And Smallpox: Utah Newspapers Reporting On Quarantine In The Early 1900s, Ericka Stone

Student Research Symposium

This presentation focuses on the methods and rhetoric newspapers used to report on smallpox quarantines in the early 1900s. Newspapers from throughout Utah are examined, with special attention given to articles published within or written about the Cache Valley area. The goal of this presentation is to highlight the ways in which newspapers established quarantine regulations, reported on smallpox cases and negligence, and dealt with rumors and misinformation. Overall, it is concluded that newspapers were a valuable source of information and mass communication during the smallpox epidemic in the early 20th century.

Making The Old New: The Recontextualization Of Tree Spirits In Video Games, Alexandria Ziegler

Student Research Symposium

Folklorists study the active rituals between humans and deities, as well as the inactive participation between them in narrative. However, they do not study the active participation that comes in the form of video games between them, though with shifts in society, this new way of engaging through digital forms is widespread and accessible. In my research, I studied Russian and Japanese tree spirits in a variety of video games to understand this new form of engagement with ancient deities. Through the lens of hypermodern and folkloresque folklore, I use the concepts of recontextualization and traditionalization to explain why video …

Desdemona's Responsibility For Pain In Shakespeare's Othello, Anna Holmes

Student Research Symposium

Shakespeare’s portrayal of women has been heavily debated amongst critics from the very beginning. Was he a feminist for his time, subtly pointing out the failings in Elizabethan society’s treatment of women? Or was he instead simply portraying the role of women at the time? I argue that Shakespeare’s nuanced portrayal of women speaks more of the feminist argument, as he writes complex female protagonists in a time when no one believed in these complexities. While some argue that his view of women was sexist from his brutalization and violence against women, I argue that it’s within these confines he …

Vital Change Needed In Shift Of Focus In Mental Institutions, Emma Carver

Student Research Symposium

Mental Illnesses and disorders are at an all time high in American history with little being done to try and aid such an epidemic. Mental Institutions that focus solely on the short term solution need to shift their focus to long term care to prevent issues such as; mental, emotional and financial stresses on the family or individual felt from caring for struggling individuals. To conduct my research, I used library and internet resources to gather primary and secondary sources all focused on mental illness and mental institutions. I used sources by underrepresented scholars concerning different first hand experiences with …

The Failed Promise Of Private School Voucher Systems: How We Can Learn From Previous Systems In Future Endeavors, Sarah Curtis

Student Research Symposium

Voucher systems have been enacted in a number of states, giving government grants to students in order to attend private school institutions where they may not have had the financial ability to before. Voucher systems have claimed to ensure the prosperity of students as they aim to provide religious freedom, special needs education, and opportunities for academic excellence. This promise has held popularity among its supporters, but looking at decade old systems now reveal that this simply isn’t true and has stirred controversy around vouchers. While school vouchers promised higher test scores, they have failed to provide such results when …